Everything Is Tuberculosis

I think I was looking for a more intellectual approach to how tuberculosis has shaped history and society. Instead this was a mild read that comes across as hastily written, containing a bit of history, an individual’s story, some personal confession and some biology, and a dash of analysis of profit-making by pharmaceutical companies. Got me curious to read some of the books he recommended at the end. A decent starting point but if the subject interests you you’ll want to go much deeper!

This is an excellent overview of the history and continual struggle with TB in our world. This books does a great job highlighting economic disparities and inequities throughout the world that hinders people from accessing life saving treatment. The book leaves the reader to consider how we can take action to make the cure for TB accessible to all. I definitely recommend this book!

I thought this would be a book about science - how TB works etc. Instead it's mostly about one boy's story with TB, interspersed with commentary about how bad it is that treatments aren't available in poor countries. There's very little science in the book, and certainly not enough to maintain my interest (I finished the book but only because it was very short and had large print).

It's probably a bit morbid that I listened to this in audiobook format while trying to deal with my third COVID infection, but music is too overstimulating to listen to at the moment and I needed something to calm my nerves.

It's always a pleasure to listen to John Green speak and this book was no exception. That being said, if you follow his social media very closely and watch all of his videos, you probably have already heard basically all of the information presented in this book. So in that sense, if you're looking for something new, you probably won't find it here.

Nonetheless, I had a really good time listening to this audiobook and I would definitely recommend it to anybody who wants to learn more about tuberculosis and how it shapes our world.

Anyone who listened to John Green at all in the past years knows a bit about tuberculosis. Because since he realised that it is everywhere in human history and present, he cannot shut up about it. Now he has beautifully summarised this story in this book. Many of us don't know that tuberculosis is not only currently the deadliest disease on our planet, but italso has been for basically all of human history. We (living in 1st world countries) have just forgotten about it because it stopped being a threat to us ca. 60 to 70 years ago, while poor people keep dying all over the world. John Green managed to make this book a historical as well as medical introduction to the disease, the story of a boy names Henry from Sierra Leone, and a story of inequity and poverty, but also hope and the power of human kindness.

I didn't really know that much about TB before reading this book. Well written and keeps you engaged.